Women in Tech

Being the Only Woman In the Room

This article discusses the challenges that women face in the workplace and offers advice on how to overcome them. It suggests that women should focus on doing things that are smart and be themselves, rather than trying to prove themselves. It also encourages women to be transparent and direct with their colleagues, and to remain calm if something unfair or embarrassing happens. Finally, it suggests that women should give people the benefit of the doubt and not let emotions influence their decisions.

Building a Gender-Balanced Engineering Organization in the Middle East

Jordan's tech scene has a gender distribution of 50:50 in colleges, but this does not translate to the workforce due to women not being expected to stay late at the office. To challenge this, the core team responsible for establishing the Expedia Jordan office focused on making sure to build a sustainable gender-equal presence from the get-go. This included top-of-funnel sourcing, resume screening, tech tasks, and onsite interviews. The outcome was a 50:50 gender balance, showing that women engineers were succeeding in the recruiting process at a higher rate than men. This highlights the untapped talent pool of female engineers in Jordan.

How to Retain Women Engineers

Companies have made efforts to increase the diversity of their tech workforce by improving recruitment of women, but not as much has been done to retain them. To address this, a company revised their career ladder to include recognition for mentoring, and initiated a Women's Club and other activities to support women engineers. Lessons learned include not making efforts a women-only initiative, recognizing women's hard work, being inclusive, and creating an environment that supports work-life balance.

How to Close the Confidence Gap

This article discusses the confidence gap between women and men, which starts in childhood and is reinforced through academic and professional years. It provides actions to address the confidence gap, such as understanding the problem, educating others, creating a forum for people to share, being conscious while recruiting, coaching perfectionism, creating a safe environment to take risks, and encouraging a collaborative workplace. It also emphasizes that the confidence gap affects not only women, but also other cultures, and that addressing it can lead to more innovation, risk-taking, and less burnout and attrition.

A Plan For Creating a More Inclusive Culture

This article discusses a program set up by the author to improve diversity and inclusion in their company. The program consists of micro-actions (15 minute activities) and macro-actions (1-3 hour activities) to demonstrate an attempt at making a more diverse and inclusive culture. The author has seen some micro-wins, such as sourcing female candidates and attending events, and has learned that this approach helps to keep diversity and inclusion at the top of everyone's minds.

The Quiet Efforts to Overcome the Men-Only Environment in a Startup

This article discusses the issue of "bro-culture" in startups, where men outnumber women in senior executive positions. It suggests that to address this issue, people should understand the cultural dynamics, communicate with colleagues, and actively participate in changing the environment. It also suggests that events such as Brene Brown's TED Talk on the power of vulnerability can help create psychological safety.